History Film / ThePursuitOfHappyness

-->--'''Christopher Gardner'''

Gardner invests the family savings in a new type of bone density scanner which is more expensive but with clearer imaging. This investment ultimately causes troubles between himself and his wife, causing her to leave him with their young son, Christopher (played by Smith's real life son, [[Creator/JadenSmith Jaden]]). Gardner then gets a 6-month, unpaid internship at Dean Witter, a brokerage firm.

The 'unpaid' part makes life very difficult. It's not long before Gardner and his son are homeless, and have to rely on each other to have a chance at an actual job.

[[EarnYourHappyEnding Because of his excellent work]], [[UnlockingTheTalent he is offered a job]] [[HappilyEverAfter as a broker]].

->''"It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?"''
-->--'''Christopher Gardner''', ''The Pursuit of Happyness''

[[caption-width-right:286:Chris carrying his son.]]

* JerkAss: Linda. Partly justified in that if Chris hadn't invested his life savings into the bone density scanners, things would have gone very differently. Still, [[spoiler:after Linda threatens to leave and take Christopher with her]] the angry chewing out that Chris gives her is entirely deserved.

* TruthInTelevision: In fact, the real Christopher Gardner is shown in the end in a suit and tie.

* AloneInACrowd: [[spoiler:Chris after when he becomes an official broker.]]
* AlternativeForeignThemeSong[=/=]AwardBaitSong: Sowelu's [[http://www.pandora.tv/view/rapir/3280781 "Shiawase no Chikara"]], the theme for the Japanese dub.
* ArcWords: "This part of my life is called..."
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: The opening scene with the "happyness" graffiti has the word "fuck" clearly seen spray-painted on the wall. This seems to have been done intentionally to avoid a PG rating.
** It also leads to one of the few humorous moments in the film when, upon being told that the "happyness" spelling is incorrect, Chris' son immediately asks [[FromTheMouthsOfBabes "Is 'fuck' spelled right?"]].

* {{Biopic}}

* {{Determinator}}: Chris.

* EmpathyDollShot: Something similar is done with a ComicBook/CaptainAmerica action figure.
* [[TheFilmOfTheSeries The Film Of The Meme]]: One can say this is like ''Bad Luck Brian, The Movie'', albeit played almost exclusively for drama. Luck is simply not on Chris' side for 95 percent of the film, but determination definitely is.

* [[GoodParents Good Parent]]: Chris is an extremely devoted and loving father.

* HeroesActVillainsHinder
* InheritedIlliteracyTitle: ''Happyness'' is on a day-care mural.

* ManlyTears: Chris sheds these as someone is banging on the locked door of the metro bathroom he and Christopher are forced to sleep in.
** He's also clearly fighting them back [[spoiler:at the end when Frohm informs him he has been accepted as a broker at Dean Witter Reynolds.]]
* MissingMom: Linda decides to leave and goes to New York.

* OscarBait

* SelfMadeMan: Christopher Gardner becomes this.

* TrainEscape

* UnlockingTheTalent: The whole point of the film.

* AdultFear: ''The entire film''. All of Chris' pursuits are done with the main goal of giving his son a good life. That includes immersing him in a fantasy involving dinosaurs and caves when [[TearJerker they're forced to sleep in a metro bathroom]].

* MissingMom: Linda leaves for New York after deciding to leave.

Gardner invests the family savings in a new type of bone density scanner which is more expensive but with clearer imaging. This investment ultimately causes troubles between himself and his wife, causing her to leave him with their young son, Christopher (played by Smith's real life son, Jaden). Gardner then gets a 6-month, unpaid internship at Dean Witter, a brokerage firm.

''The Pursuit of Happyness'' is a 2006 [[TruthInTelevision biographical film]] [[{{Biopic}} based on the life of Chris Gardner]], a [[SelfMadeMan self
-made millionaire]] played by Creator/WillSmith.

''The Pursuit Of Happyness'' is a 2006 [[TruthInTelevision biographical film]] [[{{Biopic}} based on the life of Chris Gardner]], a [[SelfMadeMan self made millionaire]] played by Creator/{{Will Smith}}.

* AlternativeForeignThemeSong[=/=]AwardBaitSong: Sowelu's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er9yRGb_Ywo "Shiawase no Chikara"]], the theme for the Japanese dub.

* TraumaCongaLine: The film acts as such for Chris Gardner. He starts with a dead-end job selling overpriced medical equipment and a wife who practically despises him. His son doesn't learn much because of the incompetence of the cheap daycare center. Then his equipment gets stolen – twice – once by a busking hippie girl, then by a mentally-unstable hobo who thinks he got himself a time machine. (It doesn't help that the machine isn't working when Chris gets it back from the hobo.) His wife leaves him, the cops bust him while painting his house for nonpayment of parking tickets, forcing him to attend his job interview in a dumpy jacket and tank top stained with white paint, he and Christopher Jr. are rendered homeless twice over when they can't pay the rent, and in between those events, he earns the ire of a cab driver (because he was too broke to pay the fare) and a motorist (who struck him while he was chasing the "time machine"-stealing hobo). [[spoiler:In the end, however, everything works out for Chris and his son.]]

* TraumaCongaLine: The film acts as such for Chris Gardner. He starts with a dead-end job selling overpriced medical equipment and a wife who practically despises him. His son doesn't learn much because of the incompetence of the cheap daycare center. Then his equipment gets stolen – twice – once by a busking hippie girl, then by a mentally-unstable hobo who thinks he got himself a time machine. (It doesn't help that the machine isn't working when Chris gets it back from the hobo.) His wife leaves him, the cops bust him while painting his house for nonpayment of parking tickets, forcing him to attend his job interview in a dumpy jacket and tank top stained with white paint, he and Christopher Jr. are rendered homeless when they can't pay the rent, and in between those events, he earns the ire of a cab driver (because he was too broke to pay the fare) and a motorist (who struck him while he was chasing the "time machine"-stealing hobo). [[spoiler:In the end, however, everything works out for Chris and his son.]]

* {{Symbolism}}: Chris refers to the beach as a place to get "far away from anything [and] everything". In the final scene, [[spoiler:the ocean is seen again for the last time, and Chris and his son are seen walking in its direction.]]

* DaycareNightmare: Gardner has to leave his son at a daycare while he desperately tries to make ends meet for his family. However, he becomes increasingly displeased with the service because the children seem to receive no education at all, have to watch TV the whole day, and a mural outside the daycare spells "Happyness" rather than "Happiness", thus giving us the movie title.

''The Pursuit Of Happyness'' is a 2006 [[TruthInTelevision biographical film]] [[{{Biopic}} based on the life of Chris Gardner]], a [[SelfMadeMan self made millionaire]] played by {{Will Smith}}.

* BIgApplesauce: Linda moves to New York early on in the film and isn't seen again.

* TitleDrop: A DeletedScene showed graffiti with the misspelled "Happyness". Unfortunately, since it ''was'' deleted, it makes the movie title... strange.

* EmpathyDollShot: Something similar is done with a CaptainAmerica action figure.